April  14,  1904. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
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scientific  skill,  is  superior  to  that  from  over  the  water,  a  fact 
abundantly  proved  by  the  much  higher  price  invariably  realised 
for  such  fruit.  The  moral  obviously  is  that  tho.se  who  grow  the 
fruit  must  produce  the  highest  quality.  The  trees  must  be  culti¬ 
vated,  and  not  allowed  simjily  to  grow.”  I  look  for  brighter  and 
lovelier  orchards  in  our  fair  island  .soon!  — X. 
The  Gardeners’  Association. 
The  proposed  Gardeners’  Association,  if  permanently  estab¬ 
lished,  will  be  a  great  boon  to  all  gardeners.  Such  a  union  is 
greatly  needed,  seeing  the  miserabie  wages  gardeners  are  paid. 
Take  other  classes  of  men  who  have  a  union,  whose  work  re¬ 
quires  a  small  amount  of  skill  compared  with  the  gardener — 
because  they  are  united  they  demand  good  wages ;  and  if  all 
gardeners,  whether  public,  nursery,  or  private,  unite,  they  could 
do  the  same.  There  are  two  classes  the  association  would 
endeavour  to  debar,  viz.,  the  men  who  have  taken  np  gardening 
and  have  not  served  an  apprenticeship,  but  who  think  they  can 
do  better  than  the  men  who  have  “  served  time  ”  ;  these  work  for 
lower  wages.  The  second  class  comprises  the  foreigners  who 
overrun  the  nurseries  of  this  country,  and  cut  down  the  price 
of  British  labour,  not  for  their  love  of  gardening,  but  just  to 
learn  the  language ;  gardening  is  generally  a  secondary  con¬ 
sideration  with  them.  The  gardeners  of  this  country^  if  they 
want  to  improve  their  condition,  should  ffive  the  association  all 
the  support  they  can,  that  it  might  carry  out  its  aims,  for  not 
till  they  are  carried  out  will  the  conditions  of  gardeners  improve. 
— T.  B.,  Surrey. 
.  Some  foolish  correspondents  (one  can  call  them  nothing  else) 
have  said  that  gardening  and  gardeners  are  a  luxury,  and  upon 
that  assumption  have  based  a  superficial  flippant  criticism  of  the 
propositions  that  have  been  made  for  the  formation  and  work 
of  the  Gardeners’  Association.  In  a  rich  country  like  that  of 
Great  Britain  where  is  luxury  known  to  begin ;  where  to  end  ? 
Are  artists,  actors,  musicians,  litterateurs,  jewellers,  and  end¬ 
less  manufacturers  not  “luxuries”  in  the  same  sense  that  gar¬ 
deners  are?  Yet  woe  for  the  day  when  Great  Britain  would 
seek  to  diminish  the  numbers  of  those  who  practise  in  any  of 
these  institutions  of  onr  advanced  civilisation.  And  those  who 
therefore  would  feebly,  timorously,  foolishly  wail  that  gardeners 
must  not  band  themselves  into  a  union  for  the  development  of 
their  interests,  equally  with  that  of  their  fellow  men  in  other 
callings,  because  they  are  “  luxuries,”  and  therefore  can  be 
dispen.sed  with — these  nincompoops  misunderstand  the  spirit 
of  the  people  of  onr  times.  With  the  wealth  that  exi.sts,  gar¬ 
dens  are  inevitable,  and  as  commercial  commodities,  fruits  and 
flowers  and  vegetables  will  always  be  wanted,  and  increasingly, 
as  is  evidenced  by  the  growth  of  commercial  horticulture.  If 
private  gardeners  charged  the  commercial  value  for  every  pound 
of  fruit  that  left  their  gardens  ;  for  every  basketload  of  vege¬ 
tables  ;  for  the  use  of  every  plant  taken  to  the  mansion  ]  and  for 
all  the  cut  flowers  sent  to  “  her  ladyship,”  not  forgetting 
a  handsome  fee  for  the  general  pleasures  afforded  by  the  gardens 
in  toto,  would  they  have  cause  to  be  afraid  of  any  change  in 
their  position?  Never. — D. 
Xanthoceras  sorbifolia. 
This  beautiful  shrub  to  my  mind  formed  the  most  noteworthy 
exhibit  at  the  R.H.S.  meeting  in  the  Drill  Hall  on  the  5th 
inst.,  when  Messrs.  Veitch  placed  before  the  Floral  Committee 
and  visitors  a  most  remarkable  collection  of  beautifully  flowered 
pot  plants.  This  lovely  hardy  Chinese  shrub  was,  according  to 
the  “  Dictionary  of  Gardening,”  sent  to  England  so  late  as 
1870.  It  is  there  stated  to  be  hardy  and  to  thrive  in  any  light 
garden  soil.  I  must  confess  that  my  experience  of  it  has  not 
been  very  encouraging ;  but  then  the  soil  where  I  have  planted 
it  is  not  light,  but  rather  tends  in  the  opposite  direction,  and 
this  would  probably  account  for  my  disappointment.  For 
although  it  has  grpwn  fairly  well,  the  wood  has  never  ripened 
I^roperly,  with  the  result  that  about  one-half  of  the  curi-ent 
year’s  growth  always  succumbs  to  the  first  .sharp  frost.  Evi¬ 
dently  the  wood  must  be  thoroughly  matured  in  order  to  secure 
flower,  and  if  ever  a  shrub  deserved  a  little  trouble  or  extra 
attention  to  attain  this  result,  Xanthoceras  sorbifolia  is  the  one. 
It  deserves  a  warm  .south  wall,  with  a  little  well-pi’cpared  soil 
to  grow  in.  The  individual  flowers  are  not  unlike  the  “  Bridal 
Wreath,”  or  Francoa  ramosa,  but  they  are  borne  on  densely 
packed  trusses  all  up  the  new  wood,  vuth  an  extra  large  and  long 
truss  at  the  apex.  The  leaves  are  decorative,  being  pinnate. 
The  flowers  are  white,  and  as  they  age  the  centre  of  each  turns 
chocolate,  giving  them  a  very  attractive  appearance. 
As  a  pot  plant  it  is  most  decorative  and  beautiful.  Messrs. 
Veitch  are  to  be  congratulated  for  bringing  this  beantifnl  shrub 
to  the  notice  of  the  general  public. — T.  Ahnold,  Cirence.ster. 
Entomological  Notes, 
The  Celery  Fly,  and  Others. 
As  cultivators,  our  knowledge  of  the  insect  pe.sts  of  the 
garden  is  not  always  .so  extensive  as  needs  demand,  and  our  los.ses 
are  often  largely  the  outcome  of  our  own  want  of  knowledge 
and  forethought.  The  caterpillars  of  the  Winter  Moth,  of 
which  a  figure  was  recently  given  in  these  pages,  have  still  to 
be  fought  by  means  of  Paris  green  sprayed  very  slightly  upon 
the  trees,  and  the  wingless  females  may  still  be  seen  upon  the 
grease-bands  around  the  trees. 
The  Apple-blossom  weevil  and  the  Gooseberry  sawfly  will 
soon  be  the  subjects  of  keen  surveillance,  and  their  depredations 
must  be  “  nipt  i’  the  bud.”  The  caterpillars  of  the  Figure-of-8 
IMoth  are  seen  now  dr  shortly,  and  when  the  days  become  a 
little  warmer,  and  seedlings  of  the  vegetable  crops  begin  to 
develop,  the  numbers  of  enemies  increase  in  ratio,  and  the  gar¬ 
dener’s  wits  and  work  are  never  still.  AVe  draw  attention  to 
The  Celery  Fly. 
1,  Cy  ;  2,  larva  ;  3,  pi  p  The  lines  show  tl  e  actual  size  of  the  sut  j  cts. 
these  things  timely,  and  have  produced  a  figure  of  the  Celery 
fly,  which  appears  this  month.  All  of  us  know  the  unsightly 
leaves  mined  in  every  part  by  the  larvse  of  this  fly,  and  they 
also  descend  and  bore  among  the  tissues  of  the  succulent  stems, 
thereby  cairsing  decomposition,  and  spoiling  the  samples.  Rot 
may  set  in,  and  the  plants  fail. 
A\"e  have  not  space  to  give  the  full  life-history,  but  we  trust 
our  readers  may  use  of  the  generosity  of  the  Government  to  the 
extent  of  sending  a  post-card  to  the  secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Agriculture  and  Fisheries,  4,  AAdiitehall  Place,  London,  asking 
for  the  leaflets  on  injurious  garden  insects,  and  no  charge  is 
made  for  them.  AA  hen  bound  in  brown  paper  covers  and  indexed, 
they  furnish  a  useful  series  for  ready  reference. 
The  New  Soil  Science  and  Its  Resnlts,* 
( Continued  from  page  299.) 
I  am  induced  here  to  comment  upon  the  experimental  work  of 
many  of  the  best-known  scientific  guides  of  agricultural  research 
stations.  They  have  argued,  from  the  ash  constituents  of  plants, 
that  magnesia  should  be  favourable ;  accordingly  they  have  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  employ  sulphate  of  magnesia,  with  the  result  that  in 
many  or  most  ca.ses  that  has  been  found  to  be  a  disadvantage. 
Now,  gentlemen,  I  will  ask  you,  do  you  consider  it  common  .sense 
to  expect  living  bodies— because  I  have  repeatedly  told  yon  the 
fertility  of  a  soil  is  mo.st  certainly  dependent  upon  its  having 
those  various  groups  of  diligent  micro-organisms — is  it  scientifle 
or  sensible  to  expect  those  living  bodies  to  work  assiduously,  or 
at  all,  on  doses  of  Epsom  salts?  Gentlemen,  it  is  no  wonder  you 
laugh,  but  that  is  what  they  call  scientific  experiments — origijial 
research !  The  new  science  teaches  ns  that  it  is  quite  as  neces¬ 
sary  to  maintain  suitable  and  available  lime  and  magnesia  com¬ 
pounds  in  the  surface  soil  as  it  is  to  use  phosphates  or  potash  or 
nitrogen,  which  are  so  invariably  and  so  stupidly  referred  to 
almost  universally  as  the  plant  essentials.  Now,  gentlemen, 
although  attempts  have  been  made  to  belittle  my  work  on  this 
subject,  and  it  has  recently  been  said  in  the  public  press  that 
the  whole  outcome  of  my  work  has  been  “  small  doses  of  ground 
lime,”  I  am  vain  enough  to  think  that,  had  I  done  nothing  else 
than  lay  bare  the  truths  underlying  and  implied  in  that,  I  am 
entitled  to  the  thanks  of  the  agricultural  community,  and  to  the 
applause  of  those  vainglorious  incompetents  holding  chairs  and 
lectureships  in  agriculture,  and  of  those  pluckless  curs  who 
shelter  themselves  behind  a  notn  dc  plume  in  newspaj)er  corre¬ 
spondence.  AA’hen  lime,  or  magnesia,  in  the  caustic  state,  is 
applied  to  soils  in  large  quantity,  a  large  proportion  of  the 
advantageous  organisms  are  destroyed,  in  consequence  of  which 
several  years  may  elapse  ere  the  organisms  gather  their  legs 
again,  and  the  soil  becomes  productive.  In  the  meantime  a 
large  proportion  of  the  lime  is  lost  by  sinking  in  the  soil,  and  by 
solution  and  drainage.  AA'hen  applied  rationally,  in  accordance 
with  the  dictates  of  the  new  soil  science,  the  whole  of  it  is  in  a 
very  short  time  converted  into  the  carbonate  and  the  silicate. 
And  what,  you  may  ask,  is  the  benefit  of  that?  Those  cai-- 
*  Paper  read  before  tlie  Renfrewshire  AgricuTural  Society  at  Paisley  by 
Mr.  .lohn  Hunter,  F.T.C.,  F.C.S.,  Edinburgli. 
